Spanish scuba diver Borja García Sousa has spoken about the experience of losing a leg to a shark in the Maldives while on honeymoon with his wife Ana earlier this month.
Sousa, a 31-year-old gynaecologist, has been recovering at the ADK Hospital in the Maldives capital Malé following the major trauma and what was almost catastrophic blood loss sustained in the incident. He is reported to be medically stable after having his leg amputated, though still awaiting medical clearance to fly home to Alicante.
The incident occurred at a site known as Shark Alley near a fish-processing plant on the hub island of Kooddoo in the southern Maldives’ Gaafu Alif Atoll. Spinner and other sharks are known to congregate in numbers there to feed on discarded fish waste.
Because no discharge of waste had apparently taken place for some days preceding the incident on 11 April, the sharks are thought to have been in a heightened state of expectation as divers began to splash into the water from a dhoni. Some reports have suggested that the animal that injured Sousa was a tiger or bull shark.
The emergency amputation was carried out at a medical facility in the atoll before the diver was airlifted to AFK. The couple had reportedly been staying at the Residence Maldives resort complex, Falhumaafushi-Dhigurah, about 7km from Kooddoo.
“Who could have predicted that life would test us so soon?” said Sousa in a post on 28 April to mark the month since their wedding. “On 11 April we faced probably the most cruel and wild episode of our lives.
“Because some moments change you forever – moments in which you understand how fragile life is, but also the strength one can draw when everything seems to be falling apart… If one thing is clear after all this, it’s that there was no better person to go through that storm with.”
The diver expressed his gratitude to everyone involved in his survival, as well as his strong desire to return home to Spain and begin the process of rebuilding his life.
Ana Sousa, who was not in the water at the time but witnessed the harrowing incident, is reported by the Daily Mail to have filed a formal negligence complaint against the operator that organised the dive. A police investigation is continuing.
I am deeply suspicious of operators that routinely bring divers and apex predators into close proximity. ‘Shark Experience’ dives should be the exception rather than an ordinary thing. We are guests in THEIR territory and I don’t feel enough respect is shown these animals. It really sounds like the dive was organised not just around sharks who had learned behaviour concerning outpourings from the fish factory but additionally around the fact that no discharge had been made for several days. Of course the sharks would be in a heightened state! This young man paid the price for an ill thought out dive.
Yeah diving a place called Shark Alley where fish disposal is deposited. What could go wrong?
But admit that I did very similarly in Greece until my lady told that she felt a big predator nearby. So we got out and thankfully had enough time to.
Would you be so friendly to share where exactly it was in Greece and what kind of shark you have been facing?
They knew the risks but dove anyway.